TRANSCRIPT - MIKE POMPEO: “Last year I received an invitation to an event that promised to be “An occasion for exclusive deal-making.” It said, “the opportunities for mutually beneficial economic development between China and our individual states are tremendous.”

Deal making sounds like it might have come from President Trump; but, the invitation was actually from a former Governor. I was being invited to the U.S./China Governors’ Collaboration Summit. It was an event co-hosted by the National Governors’ Association and something called the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship in foreign countries. Sounds pretty harmless. What the invitation did not say is that the group, the group I just mentioned, is the public face of the Chinese Communist Party’s Official Foreign Influence Agency, The United Front Work Department.

Now I was lucky; I was familiar with that organization from my time as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; but, it got me thinking. How many of you made the link between that group and Chinese Community Party officials? What if you made a new friend while you were at that event? What if your new friend asked you for introductions to other politically-connected and powerful people? What if your new friend offered to invest big money in your state? Perhaps in your pensions; in industry sensitive to our national security. These aren’t hypotheticals. These scenarios are all too true and they impact American foreign policy significantly.

Indeed, last year, a Chinese-government-backed think tank in Beijing produced a report that accessed all 50 of America’s governors on their attitudes towards China. They labeled each of you “friendly,” “hardline,” or “ambiguous.” I’ll let you decide where you think you belong. Someone in China already has. Many of you, indeed, in that report are referenced by name. So, here’s the lesson. The lesson is that competition with China is not just a Federal issue. It’s why I wanted to be here today governors…”

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